In the quiet of this town dedicated to the farming community around it an
to light industry, was located one of the few shops in the U.S. where the most delicate of musical instruments - the violin
- was created in its entirety from wood, gut and horsehair and where artists of the strings could find the hands and cunning
to repair violins that have been damaged.

The man whose talents made this possible was A. Ernfried "Halley"
Halvarson, who with his friend and co-worker, William Meyers, established a violin business here in 1936.

For 22 years the two men worked together on repair, creation of instruments and allied activities, until in 1958
Mr. Meyers sold his interest in the property and business to Mr. Halvarson. Mr. Meyers and his wife lived a few doors away
until he passed away in 1964.

The big brick residence that housed Mr. Halvarson, and his wife
and the shop was built by a Nashville physician (Dr. Um. H. Young - in 1870). It had the room to accommodate the many friends and customers who visited,
often staying for music sessions, as well as the shop located in the basement. The more valuable were stored in a large safe
in the house, although the bank vault on Main street once sheltered a Stradivarius violin between working sessions years ago.

Mr.
Halvarson came to the U.S. from Malung, Sweeden, in 1923 to visit a foreign county. He stayed, and although he made three
trips back to Sweden,
he had no desire to return to live.

A background in violin making and repair gave him his living.
For years he worked in Chicago until he and Mr. Meyers who was a salesman for the same firm, looked around for a place to
get out into the country and have a business of their own.

The basement shop housed blocks of maple from the
Tyrol and spruce
from "the Alps".
A violinist could order an instrument and choose the pieces desired; mild wood or strong, wide or narrow swirls in the grain.
The pieces were cut out by machine then the hands took over the work. Mr. Halvarson made every part of the violin. "The
hands of the violin maker are the determining factor, " said Mr. Halvarson. "The qualities of a good violin are
the tone. It must be an instrument that plays easily, responds easily, and must have a quality of refinement".

The hand working has much to do with the quality of tone of the finished instrument. In a violin are 98 separate
parts to be mated for grain and thickness. Many hours of painstaking toil go into the sides, scroll and inserts trimming the
top of the violin.

When World War II broke out, the supply of violin bridges was cut off from
Germany, nearly
the only source. Meyers and Halvarson made what they needed by hand, then devised a machine to produce bridges. Their annual
bridge output was 75,000 to 100,000. Fine seasoned maple from Barry and EatonCounties went into bridges that sold throughout the U.S. At one time 2,500 bridges per day were made in the shop.

Strings, too, are part of the final product, and
much work goes into their creation. Mr. Halverson used only unbleached long, white horsehair for his bows and a white horse
with a fine long tail was a valuable and fast disappearing source. Others may have used bleached horsehair, but such did not
satisfy Mr. Halvarson.

Violin making and repair was not an easy art to learn. After 5 years, a workman
was still a novice at repair work.

Mr. Halvarson was recognized as one of the finest bow makers in
the U.S. One of
his specialties was to duplicate any bow. He was written up in "Dictionary of Contemporary Violin and Bow Makers",
written by an Englishman and published in England. H was also written up in "Bows for Musical Instruments". He produced custom bows, not only
duplicating famous old bows, but making bows to the precise requirements of individuals. All parts applied to these bows were
made in Mr. Halvarson's shop.